


Second Place to Get a Second Chance

by just_another_outcast



Series: the scenes we deserve (episode tags) [16]
Category: Prodigal Son (TV 2019)
Genre: Angst, Episode Tag, Episode: s01e16 The Job, Gen, Head Injury, Hospitals, Hugs, Hurt/Comfort, POV Outsider, Tag to 1x16, Temporary Blindness, he's trying, kind of, vijay is a recovering douchebag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-06-01
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:54:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24483853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/just_another_outcast/pseuds/just_another_outcast
Summary: Back in boarding school, Vijay gave up on Malcolm.  He wasn't going to give up on him again.(tag to 1x16, The Job)
Relationships: Gil Arroyo & Malcolm Bright, Malcolm Bright & Dani Powell, Malcolm Bright & Vijay Chandasara
Series: the scenes we deserve (episode tags) [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1782832
Comments: 8
Kudos: 57
Collections: Prodigal Whump Fic Exchange - Spring 2020





	Second Place to Get a Second Chance

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BrightTerror](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrightTerror/gifts).



> Having a fic exchange like this has been sooooooo much fun!!! I'm so glad that I get to be a part of it, and I hope this fic stacks up to the rest of them lol

Maybe it was the adrenaline of running a man over with his Porsche and surviving the night, or maybe he was just a bad friend after all, but Vijay didn't notice that anything was wrong with Malcolm until the kid was clutching at one of the concrete pillars, his eyes wide and his breathing coming in quick gasps.

Everything had been fine. The two old friends had both survived, and the police lieutenant and the hot detective had arrived. Of course, the hot detective - Detective Powell, was it? - still wasn't even giving him a second glance, but he supposed that it was more important to focus on Malcolm in this case anyway. Somehow, the kid had done it. While Vijay had been gone, the kid - who wasn't even a full year younger than Vijay himself, but whose perpetual small size had earned him the nickname - had managed to neutralize the rest of the robbers. Vijay was impressed, to say the least.

Lieutenant Arroyo and Detective Powell looked as if they were accustomed to this kind of thing, and seemed much more concerned about Malcolm, who insisted that he was fine, than the dead robbers and Vijay.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Arroyo had asked, glancing over towards the small pool of blood away from all the robbers. "So that blood isn't yours?"

Malcolm had reached up to the back of his head, pulling his hand away with a wince and bloody fingers. The blood was definitely his, but the kid didn't seem overly bothered by it, so Vijay figured it was fine.

"Yeah, but, I- I'm fine, really," Malcolm insisted, and if Vijay had been paying any attention, he would've noticed that Malcolm looked more and more in pain with every passing second, clearly nursing a killer headache. Instead, Vijay's eyes were glued to the dead bodies. He'd never seen a dead body before. Powell finally broke away from Malcolm and started checking the bodies, finding that one of them was actually still alive.

"We're gonna need at least one more bus," she said, then continued speaking softly to the groaning woman on the ground. Vijay wasn't really paying attention.

"Bright? Bright!" Vijay turned away from the carnage at Arroyo's increasingly concerned tone. That's when he finally noticed what he should have been paying attention to the whole time. Malcolm definitely wasn't okay. Vijay was supposed to be his friend, and he hadn't been paying enough attention to him to see that something was very wrong.

"Gil- Gil, what's going on?" Malcolm asked, panicked, as he clutched at the concrete pillar next to him with one hand, the other frantically reaching out into the air. His eyes were wide, and terrified.

"Bright, talk to me," Arroyo said, brushing past Vijay with such dismissal that he would've been insulted in any other situation. Arroyo grasped Malcolm's searching hand in one of his own, resting his other hand on the side of the kid's head, thumb in front of his ear. "What's wrong?"

"Bus'll be here in five!" Powell shouted from her position with the robber who wasn't dead, but her focus was clearly divided. She was doing her job as a detective, staying with the injured robber and keeping her secure, but it was a good thing that the thief was injured and incapable of doing anything, because Powell was staring at Malcolm instead of her, clearly trying but failing to mask her concern.

Arroyo nodded, but didn't respond to her, instead choosing to keep his entire focus on Malcolm. Vijay could appreciate that. Something was clearly very wrong, and at least there was someone there who could maybe help him. Vijay realized with a sting that the person to help Malcolm could've been himself, but it wasn't. The friendship they once had at boarding school was gone, maybe never to be returned. For the first time, Vijay wasn't okay with that.

"Kid, you gotta talk to me," Arroyo said, but Malcolm wasn't meeting his gaze. His eyes were darting all over the place, and his breathing was speeding up every second.

"I can't- I can't see, I can't see. Gil, I can't see," Malcolm finally said, his voice inching towards hysteria as his terrified eyes filled with tears.

And Vijay just stood there.

Frozen.

Completely at a loss.

What was he supposed to do? Was he supposed to do anything? Maybe back at boarding school, he would've known what to do, but he and Malcolm were much closer then than they were now. Now, it clearly wasn't Vijay who would stand by the kid and protect him, but that seemed to be all Arroyo cared about doing. Part of Vijay was jealous that he'd lost that closeness with the kid, but the part of him that was able to put aside his narcissism was just glad that Malcolm had someone in his life like Arroyo, someone who loved him more than anything, as Arroyo clearly did. It didn't take a fancy education and impressive prowess in psychology to know that, only basic observational skills.

"It's okay, it's okay, you're gonna be okay," Arroyo responded, his voice exuding a calm that even had Vijay relaxing a bit from his awkward position on the sidelines, unable to do anything, unable to even know what he was supposed to say. "I'm right here, and I'm not goin' anywhere. A bus is on its way, and you're gonna be just fine. You gotta breathe, kid." Malcolm was still almost hyperventilating, his fear and panic palpable.

Vijay watched as Arroyo gently pried Malcolm off the concrete pillar, and into his arms. Arroyo was mindful of the blood at the back of the kid's head, making sure that his gentle hands avoided that spot as he carded his fingers through the kid's hair. Carefully, Arroyo knelt down, gently bringing Malcolm down with him, until they were both on the ground, the kid practically in Arroyo's lap. Malcolm's hands were clutching onto Arroyo, holding him tight as his wide eyes stared forward. They looked normal - well, they didn't look blind. The blindness must have been a side effect of the head wound. Hopefully it would only be temporary.

"I've got you. Dani has it all under control, and Vijay is fine. It's all okay. I've got you," Arroyo softly muttered, barely loud enough for Vijay to hear it. He was holding Malcolm in his arms, like any father should hold their terrified child. Vijay almost looked away. It was as if he were intruding on a private moment between a father and son, something he should not be privy to, but he couldn't look away. Vijay still remembered Malcolm talking more about Arroyo as his father than The Surgeon, but he'd never really seen their relationship for himself. This was the first glimpse he was getting of Malcolm's dad, the first time he saw the evidence of why Malcolm never fully embraced being a "bad dad" kid. Malcolm had always laughed it off when Vijay had called them that, but had never been the one to say it, and his smile at the term had always seemed to hide something underneath. Vijay had always figured that it was because Malcolm didn't want to fully accept that his father was a despicable human being, but maybe that hadn't been it at all. Maybe it had been because he'd always associated Arroyo as his dad, rather than his serial killing biological father.

"I can't see, Gil, I can't see-"

"Shhhh, kiddo, it's okay," Arroyo calmly said, although Vijay could've sworn that he saw tears in the officer's eyes. "This can happen with bad concussions every now and then, with the brain swelling in just the right place to cut off some signals from your eyes, but the swelling will go back down and you'll be able to see again and it'll all be okay," he insisted. "You're gonna be just fine."

Malcolm was still shaking in Arroyo's arms, more so than just his typical hand tremor that Vijay remembered from school. Arroyo just kept holding him, rocking the two of them back and forth slightly in a calming manner. Vijay wanted to help, Malcolm was his friend, damn it, he had to do something. But what was he supposed to do? He took a step forward, towards the kid, but Arroyo quickly caught his gaze and narrowed his eyes, a clear indication to stay exactly where he was. Vijay held up his hands in acquiescence and took a step back. Arroyo was right. He shouldn't try to do anything. The kid was clearly already freaked out enough as it was. Vijay stepping closer and trying to do something would probably only freak him out more, since the kid couldn't see him. Yeah, Arroyo was right.

But what was Vijay supposed to do? He couldn't just stand there, his thumbs in his pockets, rocking back and forth on his heels. But he couldn't help Powell - he wasn't a cop and didn't have the authority to touch the robbers, and the one who survived wasn't badly hurt enough that he was needed to help stop the bleeding or anything - and he couldn't help Malcolm - he was still curled up in Arroyo's arms, still breathing much too quickly and muttering about how he couldn't see. Vijay couldn't help anyone. He took a deep breath himself. It would all be over soon anyway.

"Vijay," Powell gently called out. He turned his attention to her immediately. She was still looking at Malcolm. "Go outside and direct the EMTs in," she told him, and he nodded. Part of him was just grateful to have a task, but he really didn't want to leave Malcolm, even if there was nothing he could do to help the kid. Powell clearly sensed his hesitation. "Gil's got him, he'll be okay, now go," she said, her voice firm and authoritative, yet still soft enough as to not add to Malcolm's panic. She glanced over at him, then back at the robber she was supposed to be watching - she was remaining in her place, putting pressure on her own wound, along with Powell's help - before finally letting her gaze come to rest on Malcolm and Arroyo once again.

After taking another look between Powell and Malcolm, Vijay finally nodded again, although neither one was paying attention to him, and forced himself to move. This was something he could do. He could direct the EMTs in and bring them to his friend. His pride wouldn't let him admit it to the kid, but he had more or less abandoned Malcolm when it became clear that the kid wasn't ever going to fit in with anyone else. That had been a mistake, and one that Vijay needed to make up for, so if this was how he could start doing that, then so be it.

Vijay ran towards the open garage door of the warehouse, the sounds of Malcolm's whimpers echoing in his ears long after he was out of earshot. He shook his head. He needed to focus.

With a clearer mind, Vijay could hear the sirens coming closer. The ambulances were finally almost there. They were gonna get Malcolm help. Just like Arroyo said, the kid was gonna be just fine. Vijay ran closer as the ambulances pulled up to a stop. The moment an EMT hopped out, Vijay was on them.

"There's dead people and some guys have been shot and run over and I think my friend hit his head really hard and now he can't see," Vijay rushed out.

"Just bring us to them," the man said, ignoring everything Vijay had said.

"They're right in here, you can't miss 'em," Vijay responded, then ran back into the warehouse and towards Malcolm. That barely counted as directing the EMTs in, but Vijay considered his job done. He needed to check on Malcolm. "They're coming in," he told Arroyo. The kid was still clutching onto him, his knuckles white with the force of his grip.

"I hear them," Malcolm said, his eyes still wide and scared. "I can hear the sirens."

"That's right, kid, the EMTs are comin' in," Arroyo said. He began to adjust his grip on Malcolm, but the kid started to freak out the moment his protector moved.

"No don't leave," he rushed out, panicked. "Please don't leave me." Malcolm gripped Arroyo even harder, if that were even possible, and Vijay's heart was breaking. This was all his fault. If he'd just taken a single moment to think about anything other than himself, then none of this would've happened.

"Shhhh, it's okay, it's alright," Arroyo insisted. He gently ran his fingers through the kid's hair, still mindful of the blood-soaked back. "I'm not leaving you, I just need to give the EMTs some room to work, okay?"

The EMTs in question brushed passed Vijay, one of them heading towards Powell and the robber on the floor, another to Malcolm. The rest of them waited for instruction from their superiors.

Malcolm's eyes were flitting all over the place as he heard the sounds of the EMTs, but could not see them. He still just looked so scared, more scared than Vijay could ever really remember seeing him before.

"Hi, my name's Tony, I'm an EMT," the middle aged man said in a thick Jersey accent. "What's your name?"

"Uh, Malcolm," the kid answered, still clutching Arroyo, although he turned to face the sound of Tony's voice.

"Alright, Malcolm, can you tell me what happened to you?" he asked. Vijay noticed his careful wording. The man was only asking what happened to the kid, not what had gone on in that warehouse to end everything with multiple dead bodies.

"The chair fell back, and I hit my head, and now I can't- I can't see," Malcolm replied, his voice breaking once again.

"Well it's probably just a concussion," Tony responded, shining a penlight in the kid's eyes. His eyes themselves reacted as expected for a concussion, but Malcolm gave no indication that he saw the light at all. "Steve, go get a gurney, we gotta take him back to the hospital for a CT scan."

Out of the corner of his eye, Vijay saw one of the other men dashing back towards the ambulances. The other group of EMTs already had the woman loaded up and were preparing to take her back towards the ambulance. Powell was leaving her side and coming back over to Malcolm, wiping her bloody hands on a rag as she did so.

"Hey, Bright, it's Dani," she said, resting her hand on top of his, which was still clutching Arroyo's shoulder like a lifeline. "I gotta take your friend back to the precinct, but Gil is gonna stay right with you, and he's gonna keep me and JT updated, okay?" Malcolm nodded, albeit shakily.

"I'll call you the moment I know anything," Arroyo affirmed, barely taking a second to look away from the kid in his arms, but Powell nodded in acknowledgement nonetheless.

"You did good, Bright. You're gonna be okay," she said, giving Malcolm that soft smile that made Vijay a little weak - that probably made anyone with working eyes weak - and squeezed his hand before standing and walking towards Vijay. "Come on, let's go," she directed, that soft smile gone as she took a light grip of his upper arm.

"Wait, I don't wanna leave him," Vijay said, pulling back against Powell's grip. He'd already abandoned that kid before. He wasn't about to do it again.

"Malcolm here is gonna be fine," Tony called out. "He'll be on his way to the hospital in just a few minutes anyway."

"And I'm not leaving him," Arroyo added. The other EMT - Steve, was what Tony had called him - came up with the gurney. "I'm not going anywhere. You will be updated the same as everyone else. Now go, get out of their way." He was right. Not only did the EMTs need room, the warehouse was slowly being flooded with more and more cops. Vijay was just in the way, and being in the way wouldn't help Malcolm.

With a final glance at the kid - who was refusing to move from Arroyo's arms, having to be picked up and placed on the gurney by Arroyo himself - Vijay nodded, and left with Detective Powell. He told himself again and again that Malcolm was going to be okay. The EMT himself had said it, and none of the men and women outside by the ambulances looked too concerned. Then again, it was probably their job to never look concerned.

Vijay let Powell open the back door of her car and cuff his hand to the door's interior. He had done some illegal stuff that he was probably going to have to answer for after all.

"He really is gonna be okay," she said, after they had been driving for a few minutes. "I know you've probably never seen him that scared before, but Gil is with him, and after the swelling goes down, he'll be able to see just fine." Vijay wasn't sure if she was trying to reassure him, or herself, but he appreciated it nonetheless.

"He, uh, he and Gil," Vijay said, as if testing the name out for the first time. "They seem pretty close. I remember Mal talking about him all the time back in school. I never met him until now, though. But even back then, it always seemed like Gil was always there for him. Mal wouldn't ever go home for a weekend or break, he went to Gil's. If something was wrong, he wouldn't talk to me about it, he would talk to Gil." Vijay sighed. "I guess that's part of why I kind of left him out to dry eventually." He shook his head. He didn't need to tell the detective anything more than that. His own hurt at Malcolm's unwillingness to open up to him as a teenager wasn't something that he needed to explain. Besides, the woman was a detective. If she were anything like Malcolm, then she'd probably figured him all out by that point anyway.

"Mal, huh," Powell commented, chuckling at the nickname. Vijay, being the cool kid that he was, had insisted on giving all of his friends a plethora of nicknames. Mal was one of the many that he had saddled Malcolm with, along with Whitly, baby boy, and kid, just to name a few, much to Malcolm's chagrin. "But you're right," Powell continued. "Bright is everything to Gil. He looks after him like his own son. We don't talk about it, but we all know that Bright looks at Gil like a dad, too. Bright knows that Gil is always gonna take care of him. He feels safest when he's with him." She stopped and put the car in park. They were less than a hundred feet from the precinct steps. She turned around in the car to face him. "He really is gonna be okay, I promise," she said. "Gil will take care of him, and so will the hospital. I will keep you updated as he updates me, but he's gonna be okay. You can mend your bridges with Bright after we've taken your statement and talked with the DA."

"You think he'll want to talk?" Vijay asked. "It is technically my fault this happened."

Powell almost glared at him, as if he didn't know the kid at all. "Of course he will. This is Bright. Have you ever seen him put himself first, ever? He's willing to give his serial killer father the benefit of the doubt. You think you're worse than him? Get over yourself." She turned around and opened the door without another word, leaving Vijay speechless. Well, she was right. He couldn't deny that.

She came back around to his door and opened it up, quickly undoing one cuff and reattaching it to his other wrist, behind his back. Vijay didn't even complain. As Powell led him up the precinct steps, he pondered more of what she had told him, his heart in his feet. Maybe she had meant it as a joke that Malcolm valued himself so lowly, but it was the truth. Vijay didn't necessarily deserve another chance, but Powell was right that Malcolm was going to give him that chance regardless. And this time, Vijay wasn't going to blow it.

...

"You're good to go for now," Detective Powell said as soon as she stepped into the conference room where Vijay was still cuffed to the table. "Jury's still out on the DA filing any charges, but for now you're good." She undid the cuffs and turned to walk away.

"Wait," he said. Powell gave a dramatic sigh, but stopped and turned to face him. "How's Malcolm? Your boss said you'd update me, so you have to tell me." The glare Powell leveled his way was enough to make him squirm, but then she rolled her eyes and relaxed her stance.

"Bottom line, he's gonna be just fine, just like I said. It really is just a concussion, and they're keeping him overnight for observation," she replied, then rattled off the name of the hospital. "I'm sure you're gonna go see him, so when you do, tell him I'll see him in the morning. JT too." She smiled again, then turned and left before Vijay had the chance to respond. He watched her hips sway as she walked away for a moment, then shook his head. He needed to stop being a perv and go see his friend.

Vijay left the precinct without seeing Detective Powell again, and, with a cringe, hailed a cab. He hated cabs. They were smelly and sweaty and there was no way of knowing who was driving and who had been in the cab before him. Cabs were all around disgusting, but Vijay didn't want to take the time to call an Uber, and he couldn't drive his Porsche for obvious reasons - in the back of his mind, Vijay hoped that he would one day get that vintage car back. As was easy in NYC, a cab quickly pulled right up next to him, and sped off towards his destination as soon as Vijay told him the location, no questions asked.

One silent cab ride later, Vijay was walking through the pristine hospital doors, the smell of antiseptic immediately assaulting his nose, and the clean white walls accosting his eyes. All hospitals looked the same. Straightening his suit, Vijay walked right up to the front desk.

"Hi, I'm looking for Malcolm Whitly- er, Malcolm Bright, actually," he said. "He came in with a police lieutenant, about two hours ago, blind from a concussion, maybe. My name is Vijay Chandasara, I was there when it all happened, but I had to give my statement and all that. He's my friend, can I see him?" he asked, trying as hard as he could to be polite.

The man at the desk gave him a soft smile, then, after tapping away at his computer for a moment, gave him the room number he was looking for.

"Thank you so much," Vijay replied, and this time, he truly meant it.

At a brisk pace, Vijay made his way over to the elevator. For a moment, he considered taking the stairs instead, but thought better of it, since the elevator was only a floor away from him. As always, he stared straight ahead on the elevator, making eye contact with no one, and immediately getting off at his floor. Malcolm's room was easy enough to find, but once Vijay got there, he hesitated.

Powell's words about Malcolm being too forgiving came back to him, and he hesitated even more, going so far as to pull his hand away from the doorknob, because he didn't deserve Malcolm's forgiveness. Maybe he was making a mistake. Maybe Malcolm didn't want to see him at all, ever again. But even then, Vijay needed to know that the kid really was okay, and to do that, he had to see Malcolm for himself. With a deep breath, Vijay gave the door two warning knocks, then walked right in.

Lieutenant Arroyo was exactly where Vijay had figured he'd be: sitting right by Malcolm's bedside, the kid's hand held in one of his own. Arroyo immediately looked back at the door the moment Vijay walked through, scanning Vijay as if assessing a possible threat. He quickly schooled his features and looked back to Malcolm, who was still wide eyed, but clearly unseeing.

"It's okay, kid," he said. "It's just Vijay."

Malcolm visibly relaxed, a small grin appearing on his face. "You doing okay?" he asked.

"I should be the one asking you that," Vijay muttered in reply, looking down at the floor dejectedly, even though Malcolm couldn't see him. "I was, uh, I was actually wondering if I could talk to you, for a minute, about something," he said, and gave Arroyo a few embarrassed glances, hoping the man would understand that Vijay wanted his conversation with Malcolm to be private without having to outright ask for that.

Vijay wasn't giving Arroyo enough credit. The man was a police lieutenant, higher ranking than a detective. Clearly he knew how to read facial expressions and body language. But the man was also obviously, in all the ways that mattered, a dad, and those two parts seemed to be warring within him. His desire to stay right there and protect his kid fought against the detective that knew Vijay wanted him to leave.

"Yeah, of course," the kid said, the only indication he thought anything was amiss being a slight tilt of his head and his eyebrows ever so slightly coming together. Malcolm couldn't see the expressions that Vijay and Arroyo were wearing. He didn't know what was going on, not really. Of course, the kid was an expert profiler who used more than just his eyesight, so he did have some idea, but not enough.

"Malcolm, I'm gonna go grab some coffee, if that's okay with you," Arroyo asked, his other hand coming to hold Malcolm's as well. He still looked directly at Malcolm as he spoke to him, still read everything in the kid's face, even though his eyes were sightless. "I won't be gone more than five minutes, I promise."

Malcolm nodded. "Yeah, that's fine."

"Okay," Arroyo responded with a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Vijay is gonna stay right here with you, he's not gonna leave until I get back, and he's gonna make sure you stay awake. You can't sleep until the doctor says you can." Arroyo glanced at Vijay, who nodded at the thinly veiled instructions. They were clear. He had five minutes to talk to Malcolm, no longer than that, he had to make sure that Malcolm stayed awake, and he couldn't bail out before his five minutes were up. "I'll be right back."

"Okay," Malcolm said, his eyes beginning to glance sightlessly around the room, as if he were looking for Vijay.

As Arroyo left, Vijay took up his seat, and gently laid his hand on Malcolm's bare arm. The kid gave a small flinch at first, then looked towards Vijay - towards, not quite directly at him, slightly off to the left in a way that was slightly unnerving, but there wasn't exactly anything that Vijay could do about that.

"Well, I'm glad you're gonna be okay," he started. "Detective Powell told me they said it's only a concussion, and that the blindness will go away." Vijay wondered which would fade first: the blindness, or the massive bruise high on Malcolm's cheek where one of the robber's had struck him.

"Probably not soon enough, but yeah, eventually," Malcolm replied, fiddling with a loose string on the blanket.

"Still, I'm really glad you're gonna be okay, and really, I came here to apologize," Vijay said. It was best to just get it over with. But Malcolm seemed to have other thoughts.

"Oh, this is nothing," he replied with a shrug. "I get myself into trouble all the time, I'm used to it."

"No, not about this. I mean, yes, I am sorry about this, but that's not what I'm here to apologize for," Vijay rushed out. He chose to - at least temporarily - ignore the alarming fact that Malcolm seemed so cavalier about getting gravely injured. "I mean I'm sorry about earlier. Way earlier. Boarding school."

"Oh," Malcolm muttered as he blushed and looked away. "It's okay, really, I'm sorry for bringing it up earlier, actually, it doesn't matter-"

"Hey, no, yes it does matter," Vijay interrupted. Powell hadn't been kidding. The kid really did have a way to turn everything back on himself, to make everything his fault and absolve everyone else of their wrongdoing. Vijay remembered that tendency back in boarding school, but not to this extent. Malcolm looked back at him, his eyes big and blue and just as much like a puppy dog as they had always been. "When things got hard, I stopped trying. That's on me, not you. Yeah, I invited you to parties and stuff, but when you didn't want to go, I shouldn't have just given up on you because you're different, and I'm sorry. I wasn't a good friend to you, and I'm sorry. After tonight, this is a hell of a way to ask for a second chance. You're a damn hero. You saved my life, even though they could've killed you. I know no amount of beers could ever make it up to you, but, if you're willing to give starting fresh a try, beer is on me for a year." Vijay couldn't help but give Malcolm a hesitant smile, even though he knew the kid couldn't see it.

"Yeah, of course," Malcolm replied, giving it no thought at all. Did he truly believe that Vijay was being that sincere and truly wanted to repair their friendship, or was he just so desperate for positive human interaction that he was willing to completely ignore all of the hurt that Vijay had caused him? Maybe it was a combination of both, and maybe Vijay would have to have a talk with Arroyo later. Forgiveness was always a good thing, but being willing to so easily let people back into your life who've hurt you wasn't. Still, Vijay wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"Great," Vijay responded, giving Malcolm's arm a light squeeze, since the kid couldn't see him smile or anything.

"Boarding school was over ten years ago," Malcolm said in complete dismissal. "It doesn't matter anymore. We're good." He was smiling, and Vijay could tell that it was genuine, but that did nothing to assuage his worry. The kid was going to get himself into trouble, being so welcoming.

Vijay didn't get a chance to respond and voice his concern. Arroyo walked right back into the room, foregoing the knocks. He gave Vijay a look that was none too kind. Clearly the man still had his reservations about him, and Vijay couldn't blame him one bit.

"Hey, kid," Arroyo gently called out. He set down his fresh cup of coffee on the table, along with what looked like lemon jello. "I got you some of your favorite jello, too," he said. Arroyo spoke fondly, but his eyes were anything but when he looked between Vijay and the door, a clear signal to leave.

Malcolm let out a small chuckle. "Thanks," he said.

Vijay stood and moved away from the seat that was clearly Arroyo's and Arroyo's alone. The man quickly took the seat up, his hand going right back to where it was before: gently resting atop Malcolm's. Vijay noticed that the kid didn't flinch when Arroyo touched him.

"I'm glad you're okay," Vijay said as he prepared to leave. He knocked the side of his fist against the doorframe as he stood there, searching for the right parting words. "Hit me up for those beers, later."

Malcolm chuckled again. "Absolutely," he said.

Vijay turned to leave, but looked back for a moment when he remembered. "Oh, Detective Powell told me to tell you that she and the other detective would be by in the morning."

"Thanks," Malcolm replied with a smile, visibly excited to have to his team, his friends with him.

Vijay knocked his fist against the doorframe once more, but left without another word. He could only hope that one day, he would be the one that Malcolm would be excited to see. There was a long way to go, but Vijay was willing to put the work in for that second chance.

Second chances were precious. Vijay was going to hold his close, and do what he could to be worthy of it.


End file.
